'The World As We Find It'

The big political kerfuffle of the morning is actually a substantive one with long-term consequences. In an interview last night with Huffington Post, David Axelrod appeared to concede that Democrats would probably not be able to extend the Bush tax cuts permanently for middle class but would instead have to extend both the middle class cuts and the high-income cuts on a temporary basis.

"We have to deal with the world as we find it," Axelrod said. "The world of what it takes to get this done."

The White House is pushing back hard against HuffPo's rendering of what Axelrod said, but as Brian Beutler notes, there's not really another plausible reading of Axelrod's remarks.